Ice maker having water thawing means



Jun'e ZZ 1965 v I J. P. MILLER 3,190,083

ICE-MAKER HAVING WATER THAWIHG mus Filed Oct. 18, 1963 Waterline:

Fra l A v 128 30 2a INVENTOR.

Joseph 1? Miller United States Patent 3,190,083 ICE .MAKER HAVING WATER THAWING MEANS Joseph P. Miller, Chicago, 111., assignor to Chicago Stock Yards Turdo Refrigerating Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed Oct. 18, 1963, Ser. No. 317,326 2 Claims. (Cl. 62-349) This invention relates to an ice making machine and more particularly to a machine for making ice in the form of small pieces or chunks.

The present invention relates to an ice machine that is capable of use in producing sheets of ice and for breaking up the sheets into smaller pieces. The invention is addressed towards the provision of apparatus of the type described which is simple in construction, economical in operation, and which utilizes relatively few moving parts.

It is an object of this invention to .provide an ice making machine of the type described which is simple in construction, eflicient in operation, durable for use over an extended period of time and which is substantially automatic to effect the production of sheets of ice which are broken up into chunks and pieces of smaller dimens1on.

' Another object of this invention is to provide an ice making machine in which the sheets of ice are released from the freezing plates of the machine by the use of relatively warm water which is' later used for ice production thereby to make use of the cold which has been invested in the warm Water for ice removal.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will hereinafter appear and for purposes of illustration, but not of limitation, an embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing in which 'FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical sectional elevational view of an ice'making machine embodying the features of this invention; 7

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the arrangement of spray openings on one side of the warm water spray pipe; and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2 showing the opposite side of the spray pipe.

Referring now to the drawings for a description of the machine, the apparatus comprises a pair of substantially identical flat freeze plates 14 vertically arranged in laterally spaced apart parallel relation. The outer surfaces 16 of the respective freezing plates '14 are flat and vertical and in thermally conductive contact with pipes or passages 18 through which there is circulated a refrigerant for use in the freezing of water with which the surfaces 16 are wet. It is preferred to construct the freezing plates 14 of a highly conductive metal.

Along the upper marginal edges'of the two plates 14 there are secured deflector plates 20 which extend continuously upwardly and inwardly from the upper edges of the freezing plates. The plates 20 are welded or otherwise secured ontothe upper edges of the plates 14 in a manner whereby water applied onto the deflector 'plates 20 will flow downwardly and across the freeze surfaces 16. Supported immediately above thejdefiector plates 26 is a distributor pan 22 having upstanding sides and a; bottom wall 24. The pain is preferably formed of a shallow construction and is dimensioned to have a length corresponding to the horizontal dimension of the deflector ice plates. A series of drain openings 26 are provided in the bottom Wall 24 of the pan to elfectan even flow of water from the pan onto the surfaces of the deflector plates 20 in a relatively uniform distribution across the plates whereby the water from the pan flows downwardly from the deflector plates 20 onto the freezing surfaces 16.

Instead of making use of the distributor pan 22 for the control of the flow of water onto the surfaces of the plates, in the preferred arrangement the Water can he applied in uniform distribution onto the plate 2%} or directly onto the upper end portion of the freezing surfaces 16 by means of spray pipes 2(2 extending crosswise of the plate 29 in spaced parallel relationship therewith and which is formed with a plurality of spray openings.

or nozzles 23 angled to address a spray 24 of water onto the surfaces of the plates 29 or 14.

Immediately beneath the pan 22 and suitably supported in the upper portion of the space between the two plates 14 is a distributor pipe 28 which extends crosswise in spaced parallel relationship with the plates 14 and is dimensioned to extend through the lengths thereof. The distributor pipe 28 is provided with a series of apertures or nozzles 30 along the lengths thereof, there being two axially aligned series of such apertures or'nozzles 30, one series being directed towards the left hand plate 14 and the other series being directed towards the right hand plate 14, as viewed in FIG. 1. Means are provided for connecting the distributor pipe 28 to a suitable source of water at about ambient temperature, the temperature in a working embodiment of the invention usually being.

within the range of -75 F. The opposite end of the distributor pipe 2-8 is closed whereby water introduced into the open end communicating with the supply source of water will flow into the pipe and out of the nozzles onto the deflector plates 20 and downwardly over the back sides 34 of the freezing plates 14 or directly onto the upper portions of the freezing plates 14 for flow over the back sides.

The lower end portions of the freezing plates 14 are provided with drain plates 38 which extend inwardly and downwardly from the lower end of the freezing surfaces 16svhereby water flowing over the surfaces 16, and which has not been congealed during such flow, will follow the surfaces of the drain plates 38'and thus be deflected inwardly and downwardly for flow into a trough 40 located immediately below the ends of the drain plates 38.

Beneath the discharge end of the trough 40 there is.

provided a water collecting assembly which includes a main tank 44 and an auxiliary tank 46. Both of the tanks 44 and 46 have flat bottoms and upstanding sides with the tank 46' being smaller than the tank 44 and supported within the latter in an elevated position by means of suitable frame pieces 48 and an overflow pipe 50. The tank 44 is made relatively deep so that when it is filled with water, any icy slush in the water will float.

' ings 54. from becoming mixed with water in the tank 44. An out-s .c I n 7 both tanks 4cand 46 with the upper'end 56 of the Y overflow pipe 50 being disposed below the upper edges of the tanks 46 and 44. Overflow water spilling in-to tank 46 flows out of the overflow pipe 50 before it has a chance to pass into the larger tank 44 through the open- This tends to prevent warm overflow water let 6%) is provided in the bottom 58 of the tank 44 with a connection to a water pump 63 which recirculates water from the tank 44 to the distributor pan 22, as diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 1. A fiat baffle: plate 62 is positioned over the outlet 60 wit-hcorners bent downwardly to provide legs. The plate 62 and the bottom 58 cooperate to draw water from the lower portions of the tank 44 instead of drawing surface wateridownwardly into the outlet 60. I a, i

In operation, the tank 44 is initially filled with water to a suitable level. The refrigeration system is operated for circulation of refrigerant through the pipe 18 to reduce the plates 14 to a temperature below the freezing temperature forwater. At the same time, the water pump 63 is energized to circulate water from the tank 44 to the distributor pan 22. The water from the distributor pan 22 the freezing plates 14.; That water which does not freeze onto the surfaces 16 will follow thercontour of the plates to be deflected inwardly along thesdrain plates 38f0rflowinto the trough 40. From the trough, the water drains into theauxiliary make-up tank 46 and through the drain apertures into the main tank 44 for recycling. As the freezing plates 14 cool down, water fiowingiover the sur-.

' faces 16 will begin to freeze. This freezing actionis not to avoid excessive shock clue tosimultaneous impacts of the sheets of ice onto the ice slide and to avoid excessive surges in the power required simultaneously to crush both ice sheets.

It is deemed more desirable to efiect the release of the sheets of ice sequentially so that only one sheet at a time will fall from the freezing surfaces 16 onto the ice slides 70'and through the crushing or disintegratingsection be.

' fore the other sheet of ice is released.

'drains through the openings 26'ontothe deflector plates 7 20 and from the plates onto the freezing surfaces 16 of This can be accomplished in a very unique but efficient manner in a system of the type described by the technique of balancing the amount of warm'water that is' sprayed from the distributor pipes 28 onto the respective back sides 34 of the freezing plates 14. For this-purpose,

the distributor pipe 28 is formed with alarger-numberof more closely spaced apart openings, or sprays nozzles on one sidethan on the other so that a 'greatervolume of Warming water will :be applied onto one .surfacegby comparison to theother; This will result in more rapid warming of one surface by comparison to the other to effect release of the ice layerfrom one plate before-the other;

The specific ratio of openings can be calculated inman -v ufacture to effect the desired time span between releases 7 of the respective ice sheets but it will be sufficient if the number of openings on one side is1.5 to 3 times the num- .ber of openings on the other.

instant-aneous'but instead takes place relatively gradually and first forms an ice slush which does not adhere to the surfaces butinstead flows downwardly into the trough '40;

p The water cycle is continued for a sufiicient period of.

time until a layer ofice builds up on the surfaces 16 to a When alayerof ice of the desired desirable thickness.

thicknesshas been formed, the ice is'harvested by first stopping the refrigerant flow through the coils 18' and stopping the operation of the circulating pump-63, and p initiating the operation of thespr'ay pipe 28 to throwwarm water onto the back side of the plates. The water flows I downwardly over the back sides 34 of the freezing ele- V ments and drains into the trough 40 and from the trough 40 into the auxiliary makeup tank 46 and into the main tank 44. This operation is continued until the bond of the ice layer onto the surfaces 16 is released whereby the ice 7 sheet-falls gravitationally downwardly from the freezing plates 14 clear of thetanks 44' and 46.

Since the collecting tanks are offset inwardly from-ver tical alignment with the freezing surfaces 16, the sheet ice freed from the surfaces of the freezing plates 14 falls gravitationally downwardly clear-'of the tanks onto ice slides 70 which are inclined downwardly and inwardly to constitute chutes72 which serve to guide the sheets of ice into the breakers which serve to reduce the sheets jto chunks and'pieces ofsmaller dimension. a The breaker is illustrated in the form of an elongate cylindrical member 74 mounted for rotational movement about a horizontal axis. 'A plurality of rigid fingers 76 extend outwardly radially from spaced peripheral portions of the cylindrical member for a distance from'the breaker plates 78'which is less than the thickness ofjthe sheets of ice to effect breakdown of the sheets of ice as they pass therebetween. The breaker plates comprise rigid metal anvil members fixed to extend crosswise to the lower end one side being more numerousthan the openings on the These same results can be accomplished merely by increasing thesize or capacity of openings on one side by 5 comparison with the openings on the other so that a cor-.

responding greater volume of warming water will be. ap-

plied to the one side by comparison with the other.

7 It will beapparent from the foregoing that I have pro vided a simple, and efiicient ice making machinein which sheets of ice are simultaneously'formed on multiple surfaces but released in sequence for further processing to effect breakdown of the icesheets into segments of smaller dimension for commercial use. .ItWill be apparent further that the apparatus described provides for eflicient operation and economical production ofice in a substantially continuous manner and a machine which isadaptedafor various capacities'in production of ice thereby to be available for use in .zipplicationshaving various requirements It will be apparent further than the ice sheets for ice. 7 of this invention may be formedto various thicknesses and broken. down or crushed to various dimensions thereby to providefor greater flexibility in operation and use.

It will be-understood that changes may be made in the details of construction, arrangement and operation without departing from thespirit of the invention, especially as defined in, the following claims. 6 I claim p 1. An ice making machine which makesiuse ofa pair of vertically disposed laterally spaced apart parallel freeziin g plates, means for flowing'water over the outerfreezing surfaces of thefreezing plates, means for refrigeration of the plates to cause'ice to plate out on the freezing'surfac'es of the platesto form an icelayer on each plate, ;a pipe extending crosswise between the adjacent inner surfaces of the plates for applying Water onto the adjacent inner surv faces of the plates at a temperature above the, freezing point temperature for water,said spray pipes having spaced openings on opposite sides with the openings on other whereby a larger volumeofwater is supplied'from the one side onto the adjacent inner surface of the plate than from the other. onto. the other plate whereby the ice. layer-on the plateadjacent the one side of the spray pipe is released before the ice layer on the other.

2. An ice making machine which makes. use of apair v of vertically disposed laterally spaced apart parallel freeze ing plates, means for flowing water over the outer freezing surfaces of the freezing plates, means for refrigeration of the plates to cause ice to plate out on the freezing surfaces of the plates to form an ice layer on each plate, a pipe extending crosswise between the adjacent imler surfaces of layer on the plate adjacent the one side is released before the plates for applying water onto the adjacent inner surthe ice layer on the other.

faces of the plates at a temperature above the freezing point temperature for water, said spray pipes having References Cited y the Examiner spaced openings on opposite sides with the openings on 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS one side being of larger dimension than the openings on the other side whereby a larger volume of Water is supplied from the one side onto the adjacent surface of the freez- 3074252 1/63 Tlppmann et 62347 ing plate by comparison with the volume of water issuing from the other side onto the other plate whereby the ice 19 ROBERT OLEARY P'lmary Exammer' 162,397 Martin 62-349 X 

1. AN ICE MAKING MACHINE WHICH MAKES USE OF A PAIR OF VERTICALLY DISPOSED LATERALLY SPACED APART PARALLEL FREEZING PLATES, MEANS FOR FLOWING WATER OVER THE OUTER FREEZING SURFACES OF THE FREEZING PLATES, MEANS FOR REFERIGERATION OF THE PLATES TO CAUSE ICE TO PLATE OUT ON THE FREEZING SURFACES OF THE PLATES TO FORM AN ICE LAYER ON EACH PLATE, A PIPE EXTENDING CROSSWISE BETWEEN THE ADJACENT INNER SURFACES OF THE PLATES FOR APPLYING WATER ONTO THE ADJACENT INNER SURFACES OF THE PLATES AT A TEMPERATURE ABOVE THE FREEZING POINT TEMPERATURE FOR WATER, SAID SPRAY PIPES HAVING SPACED OPENINGS ON OPPOSITE SIDES WITH THE OPENINGS ON ONE SIDE BEING MORE NUMEROUS THAN THE OPENINGS ON OTHER WHEREBY A LARGER VOLUME OF WATER IS SUPPLIED FROM THE ONE SIDE ONTO THE ADJACENT INNER SURFACE OF THE PLATE THAN FROM THE OTHER ONTO THE OTHER PLATE WHEREBY THE ICE LAYER ON THE PLATE ADJACENT THE ONE SIDE OF THE SPRAY PIPE IS RELEASED BEFORE THE ICE LAYER ON THE OTHER. 